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Marketing Videos - Wardrobe Choices Can Impact the Success or Failure

September 6, 2013

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By: Greg Ball

President

Ball Media Innovations, Inc.

These days many clients appear in their own marketing videos, which can be really effective. Maybe you're that person who will be on camera, or you're a marketing person supporting them in their campaign effort. Either way, it can make a huge difference to the outcome of the video to know how to dress for the camera, and how not to dress as well. Even if the person appearing in your marketing video is a professional actor, you’ll need to make wardrobe decisions that could directly influence your target market.

When making on camera clothing and jewelry choices, there are two things to consider.

Are you dressing in a way that will look good to the camera?

Are you dressing in a way that will help you meet your objectives with your target audience?

Dressing for the Camera

Everyone knows that the camera can add at least 10 pounds to you, but did you know that there are many other ways that the camera can make things look different? It can pick up things you’d never notice and make them more noticeable, and it can react to the environment making things look different than what you would see with your eyes. It’s essential to plan your wardrobe and jewelry with the camera’s perspective in mind.

To help you with that, take a look at an article I recently wrote and posted on my site called Wardrobe Tips for Your Video Production. It lists the Do's and Don'ts of wardrobe choices for video production purposes. In the article we describe the "rules" you'll need to be aware of in order to look your best to the camera.

Dressing for Your Target Market

Even if your clothing choices are not a major focus of your real life, you’re making the investment of time and money into your video, so you’ll want to take some time to think about wardrobe choices.

Naturally you’ll want to appeal to your target market, and the way you dress is important. Generally speaking, on a conscious level you’ll want them to not even focus on what you’re wearing. It should fit in with them so well, that it’s not a point of distraction.

For example, if your video is targeting people who tend to belong to a corporate casual culture, for most video topics you’ll want to dress to fit in with that culture. For a male, a nice quality golf style shirt with a pair of Kaki’s would work. Perhaps having the corporate logo on the shirt. There are always exceptions to this rule, but you’ll want your audience to be able to relate to you without having to focus on your clothing choices. If you’re wearing something that doesn’t fit in with that environment, like shorts for example, that’s what they’ll be focused on, even if it’s subconscious.

Perhaps it goes without saying, but you’d be surprised at what we’ve seen over the years. So keep in mind that your clothing should be clean, crisp and ironed free of excessive wrinkles, and should fit well.

Conclusion

The way you or your on-camera talent dresses on camera can impact the viewer’s thinking. It’s up to you to help the viewer accept the marketing message through good wardrobe choices.